Classical vs. Modern

The dichotomy between the classical and the modern approaches to life and art figure heavily in the second part of Faust for personal and stylistic reasons. Goethe, in his youth, achieves fame and renown as an author in the Strum und Drang or "storm and stress" style. This is an artistic movement that focuses on the emotional lives of the characters they deal with, particularly in youthful striving and love. In one of his earlier works, The Sorrows of Young Werther, the main character, in a fit of emotion, kills himself in the end.

This work is so powerful that it apparently leads to a rash of suicides all through Europe. Goethe sees the "modern" style as being, in many ways, similar to Romanticism. Romantic works focus on emotion and often-gloomy symbolism. Goethe, later in life, sees this as a type of decadence to be rejected...